Introduction

Biography

William was the son of Sam­uel Col­cord Bart­lett, found­er of and pro­fess­or at the Chi­ca­go Theo­lo­gic­al Se­mi­na­ry, and lat­er pre­si­dent of Dart­mouth Coll­ege, Ha­no­ver, New Hamp­shire. His mo­ther was Ma­ry Ba­con Learn­ed. He mar­ried twice: to Su­san Lord Pitk­in (1888) and to her sis­ter, Es­ther Ade­laide Pit­kin (1892).

William at­tend­ed the pre­pa-ra­to­ry de­part­ment of Northwest­ern Uni­ver­si­ty, Ev­an­ston, Il­li­nois, and lat­er Phil­lips Acade­my, An­do­ver, Mas­sa­chu­setts. He re­ceived an MA degree from Dart­mouth and a Doc­tor of Di­vi­ni­ty from Hart­ford Theo­lo­gic­al Se­mi­na­ry.

He served pas­tor­ates at three Con­gre­ga­tion­al church­es in Chi­ca­go, Il­linois; the Farm­ing­ton Ave­nue Con­gre­ga­tional Church, Hart­ford, Con­nec­ti­cut; and the Pine Street Con­gre­ga­tion­al Church, Lew­is­ton, Maine.

He also was a mu­si­cian and com­pos­er. As of 1895, he was liv­ing in Oak Park, Il­li­nois.